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** A new battle is brewing in Congress over ways to push unemployed, work-capable food stamp recipients into jobs.

Senate Ag Chairman Pat Roberts, of Kansas, assured hundreds of anti-hunger activists Tuesday that he would oppose any attempt to give states control of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program by converting it into block grants.

But he also warned that some reforms to SNAP will have to be made in order to get a new farm bill passed.

Initial reports on the Trump budget proposal set for release next week show the EPA facing a 25 percent cut from $8.2 billion to $6.1 billion for fiscal 2018, which starts in October.

The cuts are being planned to offset an additional $54 billion the new administration wants allocated to military spending.

** Do sugar and other sweeteners in the diet cause obesity?

According to sweetener producers and food and beverage makers, there is no direct evidence for that, but they continue to get hammered heavily with nutritional regulations and dietary policy linking sweeteners to increased incidence of child and adult obesity.

The World Health Organization, for example, has adopted a recommendation of a 10 percent added sugars maximum in its campaign against both adult and child obesity, and recommends a ceiling of 5 percent as even more healthful.